For Next Time
by blaircow
Summary: A lovely one-shot as a Valentine's treat. It's not exactly sweet but I often prefer a bitter romance. Sakura's final moments with Kakashi at her side.


Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

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-X-

She wheezed and coughed past the blood in her lungs to let out a shaky breath. "This is the way it's supposed to be isn't it?" Once vibrant green eyes were a muted moss shade under her pale lids, turning paler with every passing minute.

"There are worse ways." He provided.

Kakashi looked over at the battlefield around them, with its dead and dying soldiers. Was this the way it was supposed to be? War wasn't natural even if death was for them.

His teammate lay against the stained grass and dirt oblivious to the carnage and destruction around her. His hand tightened its hold on hers but he wondered if she could feel it anymore.

She smiled then, a ghost of her usual bright full-toothed smile in an attempt to hide the blood pooling in her mouth and staining her lips and teeth. At least she was trying to pretend everything was okay, that this was normal. Kakashi had already started to shut down. If he could hide everything that circled through his mind then it would be okay. She didn't need to know.

Another deep-chested cough erupted from Sakura and she turned her head to spit out more of the viscous red fluid from her lungs. There was nothing to be done about her wounds, except look only to her face and pretend there wasn't a gaping hole left by an enemy kunai in her chest.

Moments ago her chakra had tried miserably to stem the bleeding and close the tear in her lung but by the time the battlefield fell silent and Sakura falling with it, her chakra wasn't enough to heal the smallest scratch.

"Will you stay with me until the end Kakashi?" Her voice trembled; fear catching in her throat and making her eyes sting with tears.

He nodded. "Until the very end." He solemnly promised.

Another tight-lipped smile. "Good. I'd hate to do this alone." Her eyes widened in sudden realization, "I hope Naruto will be okay. Everyone always said I wear my heart on my sleeve but that isn't true. We both know Naruto was always the heart of our team. The only one capable of love."

Kakashi smiled and his eyes crinkled, "That's not true Sakura-chan. You could've loved someone."

"I'm sure I could've but I don't want to think about that now. You- No, never mind."

An inkling of fear coursed through him in fear she might be catching on to his secret.

"Say what you want Sakura, it's your last chance." He puffed out and cursed his breathlessness.

Her eyes widened slightly and then another rack of coughs left her frail frame. This time she had to catch her breath. Choking on one's blood was a terrible way to die. It was slow and painful.

The worst part was she selfishly wanted him to witness it even though she knew that seeing her, another teammate, die would destroy this man.

"Don't blame yourself." She whispered. "What happened to me isn't your fault."

His eyes closed as a momentary fury wound its way around his heart and squeezed until he could taste the metallic tang of guilt on his tongue.

For some reason Kakashi had allowed himself to believe that Sasuke would be the last of his teammates to leave him. He watched Naruto and Sakura all the time, in their perpetual and immortal youth and forced himself to believe it would always be that way.

"Who should I blame then? We're the last two standing." He couldn't keep the contempt out of his voice, even from the dying women in front of him.

She decided not to correct him. Sakura had fallen to the ground and Kakashi had followed her to his knees at her side. Yes, they were the last breathing in a graveyard of bodies but at least someone would walk away from this alive. Thank god that it would be him.

"I blame the numbers. We can't come out of the war with all our parts. One was bound to break. I'm thankful it's me, at least someone like Naruto will live life through."

It was impossible to disagree with her. If ever it came down to a choice between Naruto's life and Sakura's, or anybody's really for the boy, then it would always be Naruto.

He hated how unimportant she was in the grand scheme of things. It had always bothered Kakashi how she compared herself to team seven and considered herself inadequate. She healed and that was something the others could never do.

When the enemy nin stabbed her, he had killed the man automatically, and mortally wounded she had still tried to heal Kakashi first.

The glazed look in his eye told her he was already closing himself off to the impending grief. There was no way she would let him put up his walls so easily when she wasn't there to break them down.

"You know, I had a crush on you for the longest time."

His eyes shot to hers and narrowed in pain. "You're a terrible liar." His voice broke.

Her lips lifted up into a sly smile and despite the blood loss her cheeks flushed.

"It's true. How could I resist the mysterious Jonin that taught me the way of the ninja?" She winked playfully at him. "I hid it really well, dated around a lot. I think I overdid it a bit."

She let out a small laugh, like it was funny, like it didn't matter. The bright green eyes that had been so full of life when she was a child were now missing, replaced by cool emeralds set in a dying face.

The hand not holding hers balled into a fist at his side. Sakura watched him shake in place and immediately regretted divulging this last secret. But her life was waning and there wasn't time for regret.

Sakura continued on, "I once saw you standing next to the memorial stone. It was late and it was raining but you stood there unmoving, looking down at those names." She coughed and sprayed trace amounts of blood. "I wanted to run to you and tell you it was okay to grieve but to not do it alone."

She looked at him with earnest eyes. "I'm sorry for being such a coward."

His hand unclenched and made for her cheek. Silently he swept the damp hair from her face and cleaned the blood from her lips.

Her head shifted to view him better. "Kakashi? Are you holding my hand? I can't feel it anymore." Tears splashed down her cheeks but even their hotness could not keep the cold away.

"Oh god this is it," Her words were frantic. "Will you do me one last favor? Please."

Kakashi had to lean closer to hear her waning voice. Her clammy hand in his didn't respond to his near death grip.

"Anything."

"Can you take off the mask?"

A hesitant hand went to the edge of the blue fabric and watched her eyes follow the movement. He inched it carefully away from his blood and sweat soaked skin to pool under his neck.

Sakura whimpered at the sight of smooth skin and stubble. Her heart raced and likely pumped more blood out of her wound to soak the ground below.

"I knew you would be beautiful."

Her hand rose to touch his cheek but fell immediately back to her side lacking the energy to reach out. Kakashi grabbed the same hand and held it up to his face for her.

"You're the beautiful one." He corrected.

Sakura's eyes narrowed but widened in surprise when she felt a wet warmth on her fingertips. Silently, tears rolled down Kakashi's face and dripped onto her chest.

"I never wanted to see you cry." Her lips trembled.

For the first time in her life the man she desperately respected and loved was crumbling in front of her and all because she was dying. That scared her more than death itself.

His tears distorted her image and he angrily wiped them away so he could watch her properly. To not miss a second until she closed her eyes.

She blinked lethargically to keep herself awake and not to succumb to the warmth of what Sakura realized was death. It was a difficult struggle to endure and one she knew eventually she would need to give into.

"How about another favour?" Her eyes slipped closed and she exhaled brokenly. "Kiss me?"

Kakashi sucked in a breath. Her final request could topple whole empires with its power. He had absolutely no defenses capable of withstanding a dying woman so honestly pure, that she asked for love instead of hate in the end. Sakura was not scared, she was regretful.

Taking care not to jostle her body, Kakashi pressed his trembling lips to hers with as much passion and determination as Sakura deserved from another.

His lips were soft although cold and as kisses went it was not overly heated but it was intimate in a way she would never know if she weren't dying. The kiss ignited a flight of butterflies in her stomach like none before and she sighed when he pulled away.

That's when the true finality set in. Sakura had lived wishing for his kiss and died with finally the taste of it on her lips.

With a final burst of energy she pried open her eyes to meet his hooded black and red ones. "Next time we meet, let's love properly." She mumbled the words, the last of which Kakashi didn't hear at all.

Her eyelids lowered and she breathed deeply one final time.

Kakashi gently laid her hand at her side and leaned over to place his cold lips against her temple. Then he gasped and fell to his side, careful not to land on Sakura's still form. With a shaking hand he pressed hard to the back of his leg and came away with a smear of blood.

To cause her more fear when she was dying was something he would not have done even in the direst situations. Instead Kakashi was proud that she didn't know. His most important lie, that he was dying too.

He was at peace when his heart stated skipping beats and with pink in his periphery a familiar darkness enveloped Kakashi.

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-X-

A/N: For Valentine's? :P


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